Speaking at Parkerville Baptist Church Camp

Heading off to speak at the Parkerville Baptist Church Camp.
Been asked to speak on the Holy Spirit and His influence in our lives.
This passage from Ephesians 1 will be where I finish up.

“13-14 It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

15-19 That’s why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn’t stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!

20-23 All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.”

This passage confronts the modern church on many levels. For one thing it proclaims as a hope, I suggest, that the Church is really what the world has as its centre, its grounding. The Church being the Body of Christ.
Why do we not experience this? Perhaps I can suggest the context of this passage holds the clue. The Holy Spirit, our seal, our signet…our centre, does not always hold His place as the centre of our lives, as the centre of Church life.